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Chapter 44: Unfortunate Seldon

The next day, after Schiller had finished his classes, he, as usual, collected the homework assignments on time. However, today was different. When he looked at the neatly arranged stack of 32 assignments, he noticed something unusual. They all seemed to be written thoroughly, and judging by their thickness, it appeared that everyone had written a substantial amount.

He found it quite strange since, although he usually pushed students to complete their assignments promptly, there would always be one or two who didn't turn in their work. Among those who did submit their assignments, many would often try to get by with hastily written papers, with pages filled with blank space or sometimes even copying random articles.

But this time, as he stood at the lectern and briefly skimmed through the papers, he discovered that every student had actually written their papers seriously. While some of them weren't particularly well-written and clearly showed signs of inexperience, they were, at the very least, making an effort to address the assignment's topic. Though their phrasing resembled that of desperate illiterates, they were all making an honest attempt to stay on topic.

The students, observing Schiller as he reviewed their assignments, dared not make a sound. Normally, by this time, the class would be nearly over, and students would be busy packing up their belongings. But today, not a single student moved, as they all sat quietly in their seats, waiting for Schiller to speak.

The reason for this unusual behavior was quite simple. The night before, everyone in the class had learned that Schiller had gone directly to Gotham's underground kingpin, Falcone, to obtain the homework assignments from Evans.

In the era before Batman, often referred to as the "pre-Batman era," Falcone held the most influence in Gotham, along with his twelve Gang families under his command.

Just how powerful were these Gang families? Even the dominant force in the East District, Sal Maroni, was merely a lackey for the Lauren family, which ranked near the bottom of the twelve Gang families.

At the top of the hierarchy was the Falcone Family, and the old godfather Falcone had an undeniable say in the affairs of the twelve families.

In this era, you might not know who the mayor of Gotham was, or even who Bruce Wayne was, but you had to know the surnames of Falcone and the other twelve Gang families; otherwise, you wouldn't survive in Gotham.

Ever since it became known that Schiller had gone to The Godfather in Gotham to obtain the homework, the process of catching up on the assignments had been a heart-pounding experience for all the students.

Schiller, on the other hand, was surprisingly pleased. He said, "The situation with these assignments looks promising. It seems like everyone has taken them seriously. After I've finished grading these assignments, I'll award each of you an extra ten points towards your overall grade. For those who have done exceptionally well and have no intention of pursuing postgraduate studies, you can talk to me in my office about recommendation letters..."

As a result, the classroom suddenly erupted into enthusiastic applause. It was unclear whether the applause was for Schiller's announcement or for their own relief after narrowly escaping a dire situation.

All of this was observed by Principal Seldon.

Seldon was a persistent man, to put it kindly, and a schemer, to put it less kindly. Once he had his sights set on someone, he would go to great lengths to replace a way to deal with them. Although Schiller's unyielding attitude made it difficult for him to take immediate action, Seldon had been actively seeking an opportunity.

As the principal, Seldon had access to the surveillance cameras in every classroom at Gotham University, allowing him to observe the teaching conditions of all the instructors. This functionality had become Seldon's best method for monitoring Schiller.

Over the next few days, all of Schiller's students remained as quiet as chickens in his classroom. Evans naturally took on the role of class leader, overseeing the collection, distribution, and organization of assignments, maintaining discipline in the classroom. The entire teaching process was exceptionally well-ordered, and no one could replace fault with it.

This gave Seldon a false impression.

Back when he worked in the administration office at Princeton, most students were at a similar level. When he came to Gotham University, he was preoccupied with establishing his own footing and didn't actively assess the students' abilities. In his view, completing assignments was a student's duty, and while Gotham University's ranking might not match Princeton's, the quality of its students didn't seem to be significantly worse.

At least that was the case in Schiller's classroom.

Seldon was so focused on observing Schiller's class that he failed to recognize the bigger picture. In Schiller's classroom, all the students were well-behaved, and they were performing exceptionally well in their academic tasks.

This led Seldon to entertain other thoughts.

It was well-known that his campus-wide prohibition on alcohol had hit a roadblock. Those who were willing to comply with the plan had already turned in their alcohol, but the die-hard individuals who refused were ready to resist even with force, determined to protect their right to drink without school interference.

Students could resist with force, but Seldon, as the principal, couldn't resort to using guns to force them to abstain from drinking. He wasn't a native Gothamite, and his thinking remained rooted in a civilized society. Consequently, his plan had stalled in an awkward position, with no way to proceed.

Since imposing penalties for alcohol wasn't effective, Seldon began to consider a different approach.

Before taking on administrative roles, Seldon had been a professor. He had graduated with a degree in modern literature from the University of Oxford and had taught at the University of California and Metropolis University.

Seldon believed that in order to gain control over Gotham University, he needed to connect with the students, much like Harvey Dent, who was universally well-liked. It seemed like a reasonable approach. Therefore, he decided that he wanted to teach a class himself.

Coincidentally, Gotham University had very few faculty members in its literature department. There was only one teacher who offered a basic course, and the literature and philosophy departments hadn't admitted students in years. After all, this cursed place didn't seem to have the fertile ground for literature and philosophy.

Seldon aimed to rejuvenate the Department of Literature and spearhead the revival of the Literature major. If he could recruit a group of college students whom he had personally trained, he would establish his own distinguished lineage within this school. This was Seldon's plan.

Moreover, it seemed that Schiller's classes were comfortable, and the educational objectives were well executed. In summary, it was a bright day, the rain had ceased, and Seldon felt confident once again.

Despite being a university professor, the teaching process wasn't significantly different from teaching elementary school students. Seldon was like a cloud gamer watching a video, observing Schiller's classes from the monitoring end and feeling relaxed.

Schiller's class routine simply involved entering the classroom, waiting for the students to settle, and then starting the lecture with the textbooks. There would be one or two discussion segments in between. After the discussions, it would either be Schiller posing questions or designating students to speak. Following the discussions, Schiller would summarize, and then continue with other topics. Towards the end of the class, assignments were collected, and the next session would start with a review of the assignments.

This was how university classrooms operated in the 20th century. There were no flashy PowerPoint presentations, and most professors followed the textbook rigorously. Subjects like psychology, which required extensive memorization of theoretical knowledge, were especially demanding. Without mastering the textbook, understanding was out of the question.

Watching this process in class videos, there appeared to be no difficulty at all. With students' cooperation, they could even complete the educational objectives ahead of schedule. When the class was about to end, they could even have a leisurely chat.

Once the students started behaving exceptionally well-behaved, Schiller was willing to talk to them about the legendary experiences he had witnessed involving notorious criminals, even though he couldn't remember many details due to amnesia. Nevertheless, these young students found the usually strict Professor Schiller to be intriguing, and he undeniably possessed exceptional qualities.

Upon establishing the College of Literature, Seldon dismissed the teacher responsible for basic literature courses and took over the teaching himself.

Just like most cloud gamers watching videos, Seldon felt that he could handle it when watching the videos, giving advice from a god-like perspective. However, once he entered the actual game, he was essentially wiped out, leading to a swift exit and refund.

Seldon was no exception.

When he began teaching for real, he discovered that Schiller's classroom was a complete facade. There were no obedient students here. Basic literature courses were somewhat similar to basic psychology courses in that they required extensive memorization and the writing of essays.

During the first assignment submission, out of dozens of papers, only two were turned in, and one of them was incomplete.

Seldon adopted a strong and assertive approach, berating the students for not submitting their assignments during class. Consequently, during the second assignment submission, not a single paper was handed in.

While there might be individuals naturally interested in subjects like mathematics and physics among the STEM courses, basic literature courses, with their tedious and dry content, had no chance of capturing the attention of any Gotham University students.

Students engaged in various activities during class, with sleeping being one of the more mild hobbies. Eating, loud chatting, the sound of video game controllers clicking, and even publicly throwing paper airplanes were commonplace.

No matter how much Seldon yelled, no one paid any attention to him. Even when he stormed out in frustration, the class just turned into a similarly chaotic self-study session.

Seldon couldn't fathom Gotham. If he understood, he would realize that the students here were already of exceptionally high quality. In this city, there were no gun threats to classmates, no physical school bombings, and no kidnapping of teachers and professors. Gotham's students could truly be considered the exemplars of civility in this city.

But Seldon was quickly losing his temper.

Especially because many students knew that the accursed prohibition was Seldon's doing, they began to protest in his classroom. Some brought a whole crate of champagne, popped the corks at the front row, and sprayed it at Seldon, drenching him in alcohol. They even organized drinking parties in class.

Seldon shouted about deducting credits and expelling them, but these students didn't care at all. Seldon did expel two students, but the rest of them became even more unruly. Ultimately, one dark night, as Seldon walked through the school, he was struck on the head by two bottles thrown from the bushes by an unknown assailant and ended up in the hospital.

He couldn't understand why students who had behaved as obedient as quails in Schiller's class had all turned into fanatical extremists in his own. Perhaps it was because he had never heard Schiller say one thing: here, the only ones who can deal with criminals are criminals themselves.